Short Biography

One recent focus of my work has been the behavior of high-speed liquid droplet streams as they rebound from superhydrophobic surfaces. We have also investigated the feasibility of steering these streams with a non-uniform electric field created by an electrode array embedded within the surface. Another area of research has to do with the application of microfluidics to form double-emulsion droplets for use as targets in laser fusion research. So far, we have demonstrated the effective use of an RF electric field to form highly concentric liquid/liquid shells and we also have proven that liquid dielectrophoresis can be used in target fueling for the remote manipulation of cryogenic liquid deuterium. The long-term goal of this effort, a collaboration with the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, is to develop a fully automated, scalable assembly line for the fabrication and processing of laser targets with adequate throughput to supply targets for a inertial confinement fusion power system of the future.